Return to the Swat valley

The last time I was here in the Swat valley the Taliban were firmly in control.

It was just before the armies major offensive there and hope for a peace deal between the Taliban and the Government was high.

Within days of my visit the peace deal was in tatters.

Back then the drive into Swat was a tense one. Taliban checkpoints littered the picturesque valley and the turbaned guards had their AK 47 assault rifles on full display.

This time the journey is still tense, but main difference is the Taliban have been replaced by the green of Pakistan's army uniforms.

The army pushed the Taliban out but things are still not back to normal.

We have to pass through a number of  army posts and at each one guns point towards our vehicle whilst searches are carried out.

The Taliban still have a presence here, many say they are on the outskirts of the valley waiting for the army to leave.

Finally, justice for all?

For a man under pressure he looks remarkably calm. Striding towards the court is the country's interior minister, Rehman Malik.

He is a colourful character, matching his handkerchief and tie just so ( today's colour appeared to be silver), and is the man who job it is to protect Pakistan from the wave of attacks it has seen in recent months.

On this particular Thursday, though, it's Malik's turn to defend himself. He is accused of dismissing the  director of the FIA, the country's FBI, illegally. The director was investigating alleged in corruption in case involving Pakistan Steel Mills.

He denies the charges. Normally a political case like this would get the media's attention.

Today, though, it's seen as something other than a political scandal. It's being framed as another battle in the fight between the judiciary and the government.

Osama bin where?

Ok, so it's a silly headline, but Osama bin Laden's name has been appearing more frequently in the media of late. There seems to be renewed focus on capturing or killing the man many in the west say is responsible for the deaths of over 3,000 people on September 11, 2001.

But where is he?

A Pakistani Taliban commander claimed that he had met with Bin Laden in Pakistan, but that he had fled the country once the Pakistani army began their anti-Taliban operation in South Waziristan in October.

Senior US officials seem to have no idea where he is.

One newspaper quoted Robert Gates, the US secretary of defence, about when the last time the US had good intelligence on the whereabouts of Osama. He was blunt: "I think it's been years."

On Sunday, the US announced it would seal the Pakistan-Afghan border to try and prevent attacks on the Pakistani side. It’s seen as a plan to try and get the world’s most wanted man.

The Survivor?

I woke up this Saturday morning to the sound of what felt like 1,000 preachers all simultaneously announcing the Eid prayer in Islamabad.
 
The early morning wake up call felt fortuitous. The country faces yet another political crisis. Eid for many Muslims is a chance to reflect, to take stock. I wondered what Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan's president, was doing at this moment - whether he was reflecting on his office, on his legacy and Pakistan's murky political climate.  
 
Zardari is under immense pressure. That pressure comes from the NRO, or National Reconciliation Ordinance. The decree, which was introduced in 2007, allowed then-president Pervez Musharraf to allow opposition politicians outside the country to return to Pakistan, free from prosecution on criminal cases lodged against them.
 
Fast forward to today and the deal seems to have backfired.

A very different bomb site

There was something different about this bomb scene - I got a sense of that almost as soon as we reached the site.

There was nervousness in the air. The army had cordoned off the streets and the police insisted we could not go near where the suicide bomber had struck.

Normally a bomb site in Pakistan is a chaotic scene - TV news trucks surround the area, correspondents prepare for lives, photographers clamber through the wreckage, bystanders stand and watch the tragic circus unfold as ambulances and police sirens provide the soundtrack. On almost every bombing I’ve covered for Al Jazeera in Pakistan since our launch - 3 years ago this month - I have been able to get to the site, film and record as the situation unfolds.

The Americans are coming

The news came just hours after the US secretary of state touched Pakistani soil.

A massive bomb blast in the north western city of Peshawar, in a central market place. I have visited that marketplace on many occasions.  It's a rabbit warren of tiny streets, shops stacked up on each other, traders touting their wares, each one with a better price than the others.

Return to Jalozai

It shouldn't be there. In fact, part of me is hoping that it isn't going to be there.

But, as our van turns into the dust road, there it is: Jalozai refugee camp.

Months after Pakistan declared victory over the Taliban in the Swat valley, the camp still stands.

It shouldn't, but it does.

It shouldn't because many displaced people have returned back to the Swat valley to rebuild their lives.

At its peak the camp housed more than 100,000 people.

Today the camp still houses nearly 4,000. These are the ones with nothing left to salvage and nothing left to build with. Their faces say it all: tired, stressed and covered in dust.

'Whose side is the US on anyway?'

Over breakfast in Islamabad, one newspaper headline caught my eye: "On whose side is the US anyway?".
 
The report detailed allegations that in the last four weeks, the US army has abandoned checkpoints on the Afghan side of the border with Pakistan's South Waziristan.  We cannot double-check whether or not that information is right, as both US and NATO forces keep a tight lid on operational details.

But that's almost not the point - the point is the frustration of many here with the US and the reality that terrain is the biggest factor in the war against the Taliban.